Height: 5’10”
Weight: 180 pounds
Hometown: Los Angeles, California (Cal)
Class/Position: Senior / Wide Receiver
The Donaven McCulley for Tyler Morris “trade” looked good on paper, until Morris went down in spring ball with a non-contact injury that will cost him the season. Enter Jonathan Brady. A teammate of IU quarterback Fernando Mendoza at Cal, Brady brings versatile experience including plenty of snaps in the slot over his time at New Mexico State and Cal.
He played in all 13 games for Cal last year with 12 starts, showing good route running and big play ability. He and Mendoza have spoken about their connection before, so that is another big plus to bringing him in the fold.
Morris was the likely starter in the slot for IU, so Brady could now very well slide into that role for the Hoosiers. A trio of true freshmen could get looks in the slot as well (LeBron Bond, Myles Kendrick, Davion Chandler) while guys like Omar Cooper Jr. could play a bit more in different roles this coming season.
Production over potential is the mantra that Coach Cignetti continues to get across when it comes to evaluating players, and Brady has lots of production through three seasons. He has 98 total catches for 1317 yards and touchdowns in 41 career games, with a 36 catch and 3 touchdown season with Mendoza last year at Cal.
You’d hope with IU’s high-powered attack and the level of excitement we’re expecting to see from the offense this year that Brady sees an uptick in production in 2025-26 for IU. IU has lots of good weapons on offense, but Brady being a late transfer portal add to replace Morris is an under the radar story for Indiana. Miles Cross and Myles Price were very productive for the Hoosiers last season, so Brady will have to be a key contributor on offense this year.